The future is not set
I’ve just read that the next Xbox will prevent second-hand games, by possibly having one-time use activation codes. Now I very rarely buy second-hand games or even sell them (such a hoarder!), but many people do and do so to fund new game purchases. Of course PC games function this way, but the games also retail £10+ less than the console equivalent. People will be less willing to chance a purchase if the game turns out to be rubbish and there’s no way to recoup some of your costs. People will stick to what they know to minimise the risk.

So no more swapping games with your mates or renting them for a couple of quid. Not only this, but these extra hurdles that genuine consumers have to jump to play a game, just make the simplicity of piracy even more appealing. Piracy; download game > play game. Genuine; buy game > enter code > await authorisation > play game or phone helpline because code failed.

Now if Sony announce there’s no system in place on the PlayStation 4, then they’ll definitely have the advantage to the consumer, but how this would affect what games and when they’re released by publishers would be very interesting…Scottgroovez

GC: These rumours have been going for years now, for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720. In fact it’s usually the PlayStation 4 that’s most closely associated with them. But there’s no point getting up in arms until something is announced, these are just rumours at the moment…

Won’t somebody think of the teraflops?!
Interesting point from Dagenham Swish about killing identical foes in games and questioning whether it would take developers much effort to make mobs have a more randomised appearance. It got me thinking and whilst I don’t think it’d chew up too many teraflops, it’d change a long existing dynamic.

Enemies that are similar in appearance allow the gamer to quickly identify their type and in most games assess what threat they pose to the player. We’ve had it drip fed to us for years and I think the change wouldn’t work in favour of every game. Halo could manage it as the many different species would still make it easy to spot who’s who on the battlefield. But a lot of other shooters just have blokes shooting other blokes and I think you’d need that identifying characteristic (OMG he’s wearing a beret, run away!) to make any sense of the game.

I’m certain other traditions of video games have seeped into our lives too. For example, if I’m ever out and about and happen to see a red barrel I automatically assume it’d explode of I shot it. I don’t own a gun but it’s still the first thought in my head.iSickle

Disney presents
I didn’t even know about Disney Infinity until I read Big Lizafish’s letter on Tuesday night. I’m a big fan of Disney/Pixar and I really hope they’re going to put Aladdin and Pocahontas in there. Back in the ‘90s they released an Aladdin platformer to coincide with the new film but I was at college then and couldn’t afford to buy it. From what I saw of it on GamesMaster though it looked like great fun and had really nice graphics.

I went on YouTube recently to see if Pocahontas ever got a game tie-in and funnily enough that also got converted into a platformer. It seems only to have been made for 16-bit consoles though which is strange because the PlayStation was out by then. It looks great all the same with huge levels, music from the film and the ability to swim as well as take control of her animal friends. Did anyone ever play these two games? If so were they as fun as they look?Mousechime

GC: Aladdin was pretty good, although debate still rages over whether the Mega Drive or SNES version was better – as they’re quite different. To be hones though we barely remember the Pocahontas one, but perhaps a reader can comment.

Belgian civil war
Have GC or any readers played the remake of the Amiga/Atari ST game North & South? It’s on iOS and Android and its now called Bluecoats: North Vs. South. It’s basically the same game but with updated graphics and some sections like capturing forts have been completely changed into a Cabal style shooter.

It could do with a multiplayer mode but it’s a pretty good update and is well suited to touchscreen controls. It’s also only £1.50. I’ve always thought of North & South being ahead of its time and probably one of the first real-time strategy games. There are turn-based elements on the map screen but the battles were real-time and quite unique for when the game came out.PE

GC: That sounds interesting, we’ll try and take a look. The original was based on a Belgian comic book and looks like this one still has the licence, which is unexpected.

Alien magic
I would like to invoke the Inbox magic on the subject of aliens, having been left feeling decidedly meh at the prospect of another first person shooter. I hereby beg the magical Inbox elves to get a proper Aliens game made, a survival horror set before the film where you play as Newt and have to survive until the Marines turn up and you all know where it goes from there.RyokoSparda

Personal slight
Reading your review of the Hitman HD Trilogy and the letter yesterday from a reader who was put off buying it I experienced a strange sensation of annoyance, akin perhaps to the reader who defended Resident Evil 6.

I must say I didn’t take to Hitman: Absolution, it felt like a compromised knock-off of the old games, those choice rich, infiltration adventures which I still love and play regularly. Obviously everyone’s entitled to like what they want, I’m just puzzling over the sense of vague outrage when others don’t care for your favourite thing. I guess this is the kind of passionate reaction companies and artists yearn for.

I don’t know if any psychologists read GC, maybe our commercial and artistic choices become part of our identity or something, and that’s why we feel the need to defend them when they are criticised.msv858 (Twitter)

GAME for a laugh
Has anyone seen the price that GAME in-store are charging for Ni No Kuni now? On release they were charging £44.99 (still too high for a game) now as it’s hard to find they are charging £49.99. They really like to rip people off don’t they? I am glad I ordered it online for cheaper.

To be frank they’re charging over the odds for all their games. Just the other week they had FIFA 13, Assassin’s Creed III and Black Ops II on PlayStation 3 priced at £49.99 each. PS Vita version of FIFA was also £49.99. Some people must blindly pay this as they wouldn’t charge it otherwise.

All new releases are over the normal £39.99 too. It makes me sad though as I used to love going in-store and picking up the latest releases on release day, but I’m not going to keep going into GAME and being ripped off. Now HMV are not stocking new releases the high street looks doomed and it’s their own greed why customers like me go elsewhere.Omen66

Expensive Revolution
It looks like the nightmarish downloadable content Armageddon is almost upon us. Black Ops II’s original price for Xbox 360 was around £50. Xbox Live membership is around £60 a year. First downloadable content pack is circa £15 and there will (I believe) be three in total.

That takes the cost of Black Ops II – a product that happens to be something like a fifth revision/update of Call Of Duty 4 – to a final net price of £95 plus Xbox Live membership.

This is an outrageous scenario, especially considering everybody I know with Xboxes are on their third or fourth iteration, given reliability issues.

The one caveat is that it’s the only consistently good game of its kind. Competition – even Battlefield 3 with its player count cap – is pretty dire in comparison. Where is the originality in this genre? Where is the Revolution?Delerium Red

A question of money
Just have to say how pleased I am Ni No Kuni is riding high in the charts, albeit at an admittedly quiet time of year, and how much I am enjoying playing it. It’s so good to play such a high quality traditional Japanese role-player again. The presentation, voice acting, character design, game mechanics – it’s all superb.

But for me they are all topped by the soundtrack: it is simply majestic and is some of Joe Hisaishi’s best work to date. I have tended to pause the game on entering a new area just to listen for a while and absorb the new music there.

All this love leads me to two questions, namely 1) what is GC’s favourite game soundtrack? and 2) what future does GC see for this genre on the next generation of consoles given the scarcity of quality titles this gen?Beetle

GC: Our favourite soundtrack is probably either Rez, Katamari Damacy, or OutRun. The future of Japanese role-players depends on how cheaply they can be made on next generation hardware. There’s a good chance they could cease to be cost effective on anything but the 3DS and PS Vita, and possibly the Wii U.

Inbox also-rans
This DmC outrage is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in games. I can understand someone not liking it as much as the others, but describing it as the worst thing ever? Have these people ever played any other video games?Citizen One

So if Dishonored was a hit does that mean there’ll be a sequel?The Bishop

GC: It’s not been announced but we’d be willing to bet on it.

I don’t like to spoil anyone’s fun but, err… the Darksiders games really weren’t that great were they? I got bored inside two hours.Philpot

A standalone Han Solo move to show his origins? Did they learn nothing from the prequels… I’m beginning to think GC were right about Disney buying Star Wars…Seiber

This week’s Hot Topic
Just in case you’re not tired of flexing your democratic muscles we have another, very different kind of vote to cast for this weekend’s Inbox. The annual Classic FM Hall of Fame is currently being compiled and we want to know which video game soundtracks you think should be included.

Last year Aerith’s Theme from Final Fantasy VII got as high as number 16 and Skyrim appeared at number 238, but we want to know what other video game soundtracks you think should be represented. Let us know via email what your favourite tracks are and why, and feel free to include anything as long it’s at least vaguely classical in nature (just no dubstep).

If you want to vote in the Classic FM poll at the same time then the voting page is here. Their voting finishes on February 15 but we’ll need your comments in for the Hot Topic by the end of this Friday, as usual.